Chelsea are in need of something, anything, to spark their season into life.

Although they’re unbeaten in five games since Jose Mourinho was sacked, in itself a clear indication of the problems that had endured behind the scenes, the Blues are still some way from playing the beautiful and sometime elegant football that had become their hallmark.

Far from being the team everyone loves to hate, Chelsea’s ball players were carving out a niche for themselves last year, not too dissimilar to the time when Alan Hudson used to meander about the place, king of the King’s Road.

Eden Hazard had taken on the mantle in many respects and his Footballer of the Year accolade was richly deserved. The mesmeric feast of football genius that the Belgian served up on a weekly basis was as good as anything that Hudson and his contemporaries had produced.

So what happened?

This season has been an utter disaster for the player. Here we are already into the new year and Hazard has still to find the net.

Just three assists and a single cursory man-of-the-match award are all he has to show for his endeavours just a few months after being the darling of his team mates and the paying public in general.

Isco has struggled for game time at Real Madrid (Picture: Getty Images)

It’s a quite astonishing demise and one that can possibly only be rectified by a move away.

Real Madrid are known to be in the market for his services and they have a player for whom a swap deal would be an absolute god send at this juncture.

Isco can’t get a game for Los Blancos for love nor money. The odd substitute appearance here or there simply isn’t enough for a player of such mercurial talent.

Indeed, if Real were to free him from his prison cell, a move to Chelsea would likely appeal and he’ll slot straight into the void left by Hazard.

Quick, alert, decisive and incisive, Isco is just the sort of player Hazard was but is a million miles away from at the moment.

A maker of goals and a taker of goals, the Spaniard is a grafter and would certainly bring something extra to the west Londoners at this point.

If the spark is missing, Isco will ignite it and could even author a late, late run to the European places if given half the chance.

For both players it would represent a fresh start and a chance to show the football family what they’ve been missing.